Probes and intelligent vehicles

Abstract

Positioning and communications technologies are enabling the collection of massive amounts of probe data from the vehicle fleet. The quality and quantity of the data vary significantly depending on technology and collection interval, with the best data coming from GPS systems integrated into vehicles. Real-time data collection provides, for the first time, detailed insight into vehicle behavior throughout the major elements of the transportation network. This is used by roadway managers to optimize performance of the infrastructure and by intelligent vehicles to increase situation awareness beyond the range of their autonomous sensors, potentially leading to significant increases in safety and efficiency. Historical probe data can be used to create a map of driver behavior at every point in the transportation system. Behavioral maps share some attributes with traditional physical maps, but other attributes, such as average vehicle speed and distribution of speeds, enable novel implementations of intelligent vehicle applications. Behavioral data can be used directly to define normal or acceptable behaviors. In addition, a particular driver's preferred location on behavior distribution curves can be used to predict future behavior and personalize interactions. Probe data will become more prevalent and valuable as penetration increases and latencies decrease. Ultimately, the need for probe data will help motivate deployment of short-range, high data rate communications between vehicles and with infrastructure.